Almost, Maine
by gorrthebisexualboy
Summary: A series of one shots that might grow into something more. Just people and Pokémon trying to find their path in a small town that doesn't quite exist. Loosely based off the play of the same title. Rated T for implications of violence and 'the deed'
1. His Heart

It was a quiet, Friday night, at about 9 pm when Kukui and his trusty partner Incineroar finally found a decent place to set up a tent.

Kukui was so exhausted he could drop dead in the deep snowbanks all around him. He squinted at his map yet couldn't seem to identify where in Arceus' name he was. He wasn't worried about freezing to death, although the possibility did cross his mind, but with Incineroar it wasn't gonna happen.

Kukui sighed and started to unpack his large, bulky backpack and started to pitch his tent.

"Alright Incineroar, see if you can finish this up. The aurora borealis should be starting up anytime now"

Kukui's trusted partner nodded and began to pound the metal stakes Kukui had set into the snow down into the soil.

The tanned man reached into the pocket of his overcoat and grabbed the burlap sack he had kept on him for the past three days, back when Burnet...

Kukui shook the negative thoughts from his head and focused on the positive things. Burnet wouldn't want to see her normally upbeat husband so down.

He scanned his surroundings and saw that he was an a clearing that was a little too out of place for him to consider it natural. Kukui suspected it was man made, although the only structure in sight was a snowed-in wooden cabin that looked like it hadn't been inhabited in years.

Kukui glanced up into the sky. Apparently, the aurora borealis looked like the dual sails of Aurorus' back, but a thousand times bigger and constantly changing between countless colors. Kukui couldn't wait to see it.

Incineroar finished pitching the tent and ventured into the surrounding forest, presumably looking for firewood. Or a native Stantler to battle. Either way.

Kukui paced about the border of the clearing. The northern lights would commence any moment now.

"Hello?" called a voice behind him.

A woman was standing at the door of what Kukui thought was an empty cabin.

"Hello!" called Kukui.

The woman took a couple of steps out of the doorway and wound up standing on her poorly kept porch. She shut the door behind her, so the cold air and light snow wouldn't find its way inside her home. The two individuals were close to ten feet apart, if not less.

"Can I help you?" asked the woman, with an odd combination of sarcasm and genuine concern. Through the snowflakes, Kukui could see that this woman was probably in her early twenties, probably 22 or 23, making her a year or two younger than himself, although this thought was fleeting, and soon exited his mind.

"No, it's fine" said Kukui dismissively "I'm just here to see the northern lights"

"You sure?" reiterated the woman "It's just awful late. And you're in my yard"

Kukui cringed and started to talk very fast, like he normally did when he was nervous "Do you mind? I'm only going to be here the night. I just want to see the lights and then I'll be gone" Kukui paused and then when the woman didn't respond, he repeated "I hope you don't mind."

The woman slowly urged herself off of her porch and stood now seven feet away from Kukui. She glanced to her left and saw Kukui's loud, colorful and overall Hawaiian tent, with Incineroar, returning from his expedition waving gleefully at the pair.

"Is that your tent?" enquired the woman in disbelief "And your Pokémon?"

"So I have a place to sleep after I see the lights" said Kukui matter of factly, "And Incineroar has been my partner for, wow, almost a decade now"

"So you pitched a tent in my yard?"

"Yes, I hope you don't mind."

The woman thought for half a minute before saying "I wouldn't say I mind, exactly."

Kukui's mind traveled a mile a minute and he immediately blurted out "You do mind, don't you?"

The woman tried to open her mouth to respond, but Kukui plowed on "You see, it says in your brochure-"

"In my brochure?" asked the woman skeptically. Kukui chuckled and pulled out his brochure from one of his overcoat pockets

"It says that people in Maine are different." he continued "That they live the way people should, like up in Scandinavia or something. They let people like cross country skiers, explorers, people trying to find Articuno and camp out in their yard for free. They just let them."

The woman was now standing directly in front of Kukui. She couldn't have been more than ten inches away, looking at the brochure that Kukui had pulled out. Neither of them had noticed the burlap sack, that had somehow moved itself into Kukui's other hand.

"Well, is it true?" asked Kukui "I am a hiker." When the woman didn't respond, he started to ramble on. "I've never been this far north before. Or east. Did you know that Maine is the only state in the United States that's only connected to one other state?" The woman transferred her incredulous smile from Kukui's brochure to the man himself. "Well, it's true!" insisted Kukui.

The woman took the pamphlet from Kukui and started to fold it while Kukui ventured off a little ways. "It feels like it's the end of the world here. So cold, unpopulated, almost primal."

"Helluva way to get me to let you stay" quipped the woman.

"Are you going to let me stay?" asked Kukui.

"Well-"

Kukui cut the woman off "If someone really needed to"

The woman tried to answer again "Well-"

Kukui interjected again "And I mean really needed to"

"YES!" screamed the woman, who obviously detested being interrupted, but the kindness in her heart won out over the man's tendency to ramble.

Kukui threw his arms around the woman and lifted her off the ground "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he said jollily. Just as quickly as Kukui had picked the woman up, he clumsily put her down and scratched his head awkwardly.

The two took a couple steps in contrasting directions and stayed silent for a few seconds, until Kukui felt the pockets of his overcoat and felt that his burlap sack was gone.

Much to his unwanted surprise, he saw the woman clutching it in her right hand, although she didn't even seem to realize she had it.

"Excuse me, but I need that" said Kukui.

"What?" asked the woman.

"That sack in your hand, I need it"

The woman's eyes widened, and Kukui's hypothesis that the woman didn't realize she had the sack was all but confirmed.

"Oh, sorry" she said. She tossed the sack back to him. Incineroar, who had been prowling the snowbanks for the entirety of the conversation, saw his chance and grabbed the sack out of the air and presented it to Kukui in one fluid motion. Kukui gratefully took the sack from Incineroar and rubbed the Pokémon's skull.

Kukui went back to gazing at the sky, and unfortunately the aurora borealis had not chosen to make an appearance yet.

"So you're just looking for a place to watch the northern lights?" asked the woman.

"Yep. Just for tonight."

"Well, you might not see them tonight" said the woman.

"No, no, no. I'll see them tonight. I'm in a good place. Your latitude is good, and ever since Solgaleo made an appearance in Hawaii, solar activity is at an all time high. And damn, you got a great sky for it. There's a lot of sky here."

"It used to be a Yache Berry farm" said the woman.

"I was gonna guess something like that. No trees around." murmured Kukui, then he raised his tone to a normal speaking voice "So you're a farmer?"

"Oh, no, I used to be a farmer, but the Furret around here would always steal the Berries, so I gave up and became a repairwoman. I fix things."

"Really? You're not a Crawdaunt-Fisher..."

The woman chuckled "No. The ocean is a couple hundred miles away. Can you imagine the commute?"

It was Kukui's turn to chuckle "Well, thank you for letting me stay. I've had a bad enough time lately and it's just that-"

Without any form of warning, the woman threw her arms around Kukui's neck and kissed him.

Before Kukui even had a chance to process what happened, the woman pulled away and started stammering "Oh my Arceus, I'm so sorry. I'm not the type of person to do that. I just...I think I love you."

Kukui scratched the back of his head "Really?"

The woman nodded eagerly "I saw you from my window and I love you"

"Well, that's very sweet and I do appreciate it but there's something you should know. I'm not exactly here for that. I'm here to pay respects to my wife, Burnet."

The woman's face contorted into a powerful cringe "Oh.." She backed away from him slowly and clumsily.

"Yeah, I'm here to pay respects for her. She died recently. On Tuesday, actually. And, y'see, the northern lights" Kukui noticed the woman was starting to head back into her house, probably feeling ashamed, possibly mortified, so Kukui decided to follow her. "Did you know this? The northern lights are actually the departed souls on their way to Heaven. It takes about three days and Burnet died three days ago, so that's why I'm here. I'm not mad about the kiss, there's no way you could've known."

The woman halted in her tracks and spun around to face Kukui again. It was obvious in her face that didn't quite believe Kukui about the kiss, and if Kukui was honest, he didn't know what he was feeling, but he wanted to get to know the woman better.

"I didn't leave things well with Burnet, so I wanted to say one last goodbye, before she has to wait forty-something years to see me again. And I wanted to do this unbothered, but what you just did a few seconds ago, that bothered me. I think"

elaborated Kukui.

"Alright, just please don't go. Just consider what I did a very warm Maine welcome" suggested the woman.

Kukui cracked up "Yes ma'am. Well my name is Kukui."

"I'm Plumeria" said the woman. She offered a hand for Kukui to shake and Kukui obliged. "Funny story, actually, about my name. Plumeria was actually the town I was born in, but there was a screw up on the birth certificate. Plumeria Gonzales, born in Amy, Maine."

Kukui tried not to laugh when he said "I am so sorry. I think I passed through Plumeria on my way here." Kukui paused for a moment, wondering if he should as a question that had been on his mind for a while. He decided that his curiosity was more important than his cautiousness with Plumeria. "Where is here anyways? I couldn't find it on my map."

"You're in Almost" said Plumeria, a smile tugging at her face, as if she'd always wanted to give this explanation but had never gotten the chance until now. "You're in an unorganized territory. You're not gonna find it on your map, because technically, it's not a real town."

Kukui was more confused now having that vague information than he had a few seconds prior not having any information. Funny how that works. "What do you mean?" asked Kukui.

"Well, in order to be a real town, you gotta get organized." added Plumeria "And we never really got around to that. So we're what people call Almost-A-City. Or for short, Almost."

"Oh, cool" said Kukui. If he wasn't so adapted to Californian weather and culture, Kukui would seriously consider moving to Almost.

A sharp pain from his chest brought Kukui to his knees. "Gah, my heart!" he yelled. He tried to find the burlap sack, but the cursed thing seemed to have a mind of its own. Again, somehow, the sack had found itself in Plumeria's grasp.

"Are you alright? Do I need to call an ambulance?" said Plumeria, started to jog in place and wring her hands.

"My heart. It's in that sack. Please give it back to me.." said Kukui.

Plumeria said sure so many times so quickly it was impossible to actually keep track as she handed Kukui the sack back.

"Thank you" breathed Kukui. As suddenly as the pain had come, it had been relieved.

"Did you just say that your heart is in that bag?" asked Plumeria.

"Yes." said Kukui firmly.

"It's heavier than I expected it to be"

"Yes." repeated Kukui firmly.

"Why is it that bag?" asked Plumeria "And not, y'know, in your chest?"

"That's just the way things worked out for me, I guess." Kukui said solemnly "Incineroar, go make sure no Beartic or Dewgong get in our food"

Incineroar reluctantly left, giving Plumeria a pointed look before going of to guard two bags of Doritos.

"Why?" asked Plumeria, after Incineroar was out of earshot.

"It's broken" said Kukui. The rambling, socially oblivious Kukui was gone, replaced with a fractured man mourning his wife.

"What happened?" asked Plumeria, inviting Kukui to sit on the two rocking chair on her porch. Kukui sighed and followed her up.

"Burnet broke it." said Kukui finally.

"Your wife?" inquired Plumeria.

"She went away." he said "With someone else."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I-" Plumeria faltered. What could she say? That she didn't know. She hardly knew the guy and he barely knew her. How come his heart kept winding up in her arms?

"When she did that, I thought my heart would break." continued Kukui "And that's exactly what it did. Hurt so bad I actually wound up going to the hospital. The Nurse there said that my heart wouldn't work anymore, and that she's have to replace it. I went through the surgery to replace my heart with an artificial one. Apparently, during that surgery, one of the Nurses dropped my original heart on the ground, and it broke into twenty four pieces." Kukui moved his gaze from the ground to Plumeria, who was digesting the information silently. Kukui shook the sack around, and it reminded Plumeria of the sound that occurs when someone shakes a bag of coins around.

"Slate" spat Kukui bitterly "It turned to slate".

"Should be good for roofing" said Plumeria, hoping to lighten up the situation. Kukui's expression didn't even come close to changing.

"So wait, you have an artificial heart, yes?" asked Plumeria.

"Yeah."

"So why do you carry around your old one?" asked Plumeria.

"Because it's my heart, duh"

"But it's broken" countered Plumeria.

"Yeah."

"Because your wife left you."

"Yeah..."

"So if she left you, why are you paying respects to her?" asked Plumeria forcefully.

"Because that's what you do when someone dies" answered Kukui with equal force.

"But she left you. It seems to me that a woman like that doesn't deserve respect" reasoned Plumeria.

"Well, like I said earlier, I didn't leave things well with Burnet and I want to make things right" prompted Kukui.

"Why?" asked Plumeria firmly.

"So I can apologize."

"Why?" repeated Plumeria.

"Because" said Kukui, although he knew that Plumeria was going to demand more information.

"Why" repeated Plumeria again.

"Because I'm the one that killed her!" shouted Kukui.

"Oh, oh!" yelped Plumeria. She jumped up from her chair and started for the front door, presumably to go back inside and bar up the door.

"But I want to apologize!" shouted Kukui. Despite this admittedly terrible reasoning, Plumeria felt the urge to hear him out.

"I was in recovery from my surgery when Burnet came to see me. I was almost better, too. Just about to go home. And she told me she wanted me back. And I told her 'Burnet, I have a new heart now. I'm sorry, it doesn't want you back'. And that just killed him."

"Oh, so you didn't.." Plumeria finished her sentence nonverbally by pantomiming stabbing her front door over and over and over and over again.

"Yes, I did. Because when I told her I didn't want her back, she just ran right out of the front door and there was an ambulance rushing in. There was a fire. Anyways, the ambulance rammed her right back through the door. She died right in the lobby."

"Kukui.." consoled Plumeria.

"If my new heart would've been able to take her back, she wouldn't have ran out and gotten ran over. The best thing to do for closure is to just apologize for not being able to-"

Plumeria cut Kukui off by rushing back toward him and kissing him again. This time Kukui did have time to react. He could've thrown Plumeria into the snow and found somewhere else to settle in for the night. He chose not to. He wanted to test something.

Sure enough, his experiment was a success. Every time Plumeria kisses him, his heart wound up in her hands.

When Plumeria separated from him, he immediately reached out and snatched his burlap sack from her hands. "Please don't do that anymore" Kukui ordered. Well, he wanted it to sound like an order, but it sounded like he was begging.

"Why not?" asked Plumeria "I love you."

"Well, don't" said Kukui bluntly.

"Why not?" asked Plumeria.

"Well, because my new heart just pumps blood and that's all. The one that does all the loving is broken. It doesn't work anymore."

Plumeria had the decency to wait for Kukui to finish talking before kissing him again.

Sure enough, the sack appeared in Plumeria's hands again. "Well, I'm a repairwoman. Let's see if I can fix it. It's kinda my thing."

As Plumeria opened the burlap sack, the aurora borealis exploded into being, and Kukui gazed up at the sky. "Goodbye, Burnet." he said softly, then he gazed down at the woman, tenderly holding all twenty four pieces of his heart. "Hello, Plumeria."


	2. Sad And Glad In A World Gone Mad

Guzma was having a rough night. Guzma was having a lot of rough nights lately. It wasn't necessarily terrible. Business was growing and with winter coming soon, everyone in Almost wanted to make sure their heating systems were working as well as they possibly could before winter sets in.

The man knew he had a drinking problem, and for a moment he joined Almost's Alcoholics Anonymous. The only problem was that he was the only member. Out of a town that had two hundred and eleven people, it isn't that surprising to realize that he was the only one with a drinking problem.

Probably why he's in the back room of the Sawsbuck Patty, a restaurant that's too big to be a pub yet too small to be a bar. Guzma didn't know what to call it. And he honestly didn't care.

The Sawsbuck Patty was always a seedy, rowdy place, but the noises coming from the front room could only be described as explosive. Guzma was glad that he decided to leave Golisopod and Vikavolt at home. The Bug-Types Guzma adored detested loud noises.

The rarely used backdoor swung open, and Guzma's heart skipped a couple beats. Olivia walked through in her puffy, winter coat.

"Olivia?" asked Guzma.

Olivia's eyes flicked sideways to see Guzma in the corner, and her eyebrows nearly left her face. "Guzma? Hey!" she yelled, mainly in surprise over passion or affection.

Guzma pushed his seat back and stood up. Luckily, the night was still young and Guzma hadn't ingested quite a lot of liquor yet, but he was getting there. "Hey." he said.

"Hey..." said Olivia awkwardly.

Guzma waved hesitantly, again repeating himself "Hey." The tall man pulled the equally tall woman in stumbling, uncoordinated sort of dude hug.

"How ya doin'?" asked Guzma, his old Brooklyn accent sneaking back into his voice like it normally did when he was nervous or sick. He wasn't sick.

"I'm great." said Olivia loudly, to be heard over the din of the first room.

"Well, that's great." said Guzma. "You look great, by the way."

Olivia stared at her own, modest, red party dress. She didn't look back up when she quietly said "Thanks, Guzma."

The young man could barely hear Olivia over the party in the front.

"Well," said Guzma. "Come on, grab a seat. I haven't seen you in days...and weeks...and months...eighteen months, when I woke up one morning in our bed and you were just gone."

Guzma grabbed his Blue Moon off his rickety, brown, wooden dining table and took a big swig.

The other door in the back room, the one that led to the front room, opened and in popped a peppy waitress that Guzma had never seen before. Due to his frequent visits on Friday nights, Guzma knew the staff of the Sawsbuck Patty very well, but he didn't recognize this small, thin, almost delicate redhead with a pageboy haircut and a friendly yet nervous smile. She must've been new.

"Can I get you two lovebirds anything?" asked the waitress eagerly.

Olivia and Guzma exchanged fleeting glances. "No, no" objected Olivia, too quickly for Guzma's tastes "It's not like that. We're just friends."

"Even that's pushing it" murmured Guzma to himself. The waitress heard Guzma, but Olivia did not.

The waitress gave Guzma a tender look for a moment. Guzma offered her a hopeless shrug, and the waitress nodded as if she understood. "Well, holler if you need anything."

"We will" said Olivia forcefully.

"No, really. Holler. It's really busy up front." The waitress gave an energetic salute, and left the room to attend to the rowdy bunch of women up front.

"So, you here with anybody?" asked Guzma.

"Oh, yeah." said Olivia, subconsciously gesturing towards the front. "Its a Girl's Night. I was just heading back from the outhouse, so really I should..."

"But I haven't seen ya!" Guzma interrupted. The frizzy haired man sat back down at his usual table and slovenly kicked out another chair for Olivia to sit down in.

Olivia looked over her shoulder towards her friends in the front room. "Oh, come on. They're not gonna notice you're gone for five minutes." said Guzma. "And I promise I won't take more than that."

Olivia looked back and forth between Guzma and the front room "You always did keep your promises." said Olivia in a resigned tone. She treaded over to the chair and eased herself into it.

"So, what's been going on with you? What have you been up to?" asked Guzma. Olivia shrugged.

"Well, Hala let me take over the family business." proclaimed Guzma proudly. "I am running the business."

"Congratulations." Olivia said quietly.

"We still do heating and cooling, but I've expanded the business. We do rugs now! We shampoo them."

"Oh!" Olivia said. She felt extremely guilty that's all she could come up with, but what was there to say?

"It's a lot of work." said Guzma, picking up his bottle and gyrated it, causing the liquid inside to create a whirlpool. "I'm on call weekends, holidays, you name it. Because if your heat goes out and you don't have a Fire-Type, you could die. It's serious shit."

Guzma's enthused monologue faltered when he noticed Olivia looking over her shoulder as if she was eager to leave. Guzma checked his wristwatch. He has three minutes and thirty seconds before he technically broke his promise.

"I had to work last Christmas and Thanksgiving. I let people I work with, though, like Plumeria, she helps out with repairs sometimes, have those days off but I work holidays anyways because I'm all alone this year."

Olivia cringed. "That's terrible." she said. She meant it, but even in her own ears, it didn't sound genuine.

"Yeah, my brother and sister got canned so they had to leave town. My parents retired and moved south. Vermont. Winters there are a lot easier." Guzma's voice became more and more infected with bitterness and anger the more he went on. "And then Ariados went and died on me."

"Oh, Guzma, I didn't hear about that." said Olivia, patting the broken man's shoulder

Guzma chugged the remaining beer in his Blue Moon bottle. "Yeah, I don't have anyone anymore, really. It seems like ever since you jumped ship, everyone else followed you. All I have are Vikavolt and Golisopod. So I wondering if maybe you'd like to come over."

Olivia feared Guzma would ask this. Thankfully, the cheery, scarlet haired waitress made a reappearance, saving her from having to give an immediate answer.

"I forgot to mention there's a Friday night special at the Sawsbuck Patty. You get to drink free if you're sad. I know you little lovebirds have no reason to be sad, but I'm contractually obligated to tell you that. Anyways, if you guys need a couple more Moons, maybe a Spinda Shake if it's that kinda night. Again just holler if you need anything." said the waitress rapidly in what seemed like one breath.

Then, as quickly as the perky redhead appeared, she disappeared, as if an Abra or a Natu was helping her teleport around the bar.

"So, whaddya say?" asked Guzma "Wanna come on over for some fun?"

Olivia scooted her chair back and stood up "You know what, Guzma? I really can't. I have to get back to the girls."

Guzma checked his watch again and saw that he still had one minute and forty-five seconds before he broke the five minute mark.

"Aw, come on, I still have almost two minutes."

"There's a guy!" Olivia barked, her temper tested beyond its limit.

"Well, good for you" said Guzma sarcastically, throwing jazz hands in the air to rub salt on the wound. "Getting yourself back out there."

"Actually, Guzma" said Olivia, placing on hand in her hip and the other clenching into a fist "It's more then me just getting myself back out there and moving on. Those rowdy girls put there, screaming expletives and cheering every time the bartender pours them another margarita? That's my fucking bachelorette party, Guzma! I'm getting married!"

Guzma deflated. What little hope he had of getting another human in his life was crushed. Demolished. Guzma expected to feel rage. To feel exasperation and discommodity so strong he'd just break and scream. Instead, he felt something else. Relief. No more wasting time on Olivia. Life could finally be solely business and Pokémon.

"That's a huge ring." Noted Guzma.

"Yeah." said Olivia, trying to calm herself.

"I thought you said you weren't gonna do that." said Guzma

"Do what?" asked Olivia.

"Get married. I thought you said that wasn't for you. That's what you always used to tell me." Guzma paused to collect himself. "Well, I guess it just wasn't for you with me."

Olivia sighed and started to walk out the door.

"Who's the lucky guy?" asked Guzma cautiously.

"Blue." said Olivia.

"That ex-Champion and park ranger?" asked Guzma, perking up.

"Yeah, yeah!" said Olivia enthusiastically, happy to see Guzma perk up.

"Wow! He's legendary." said Guzma in awe as Olivia made her way back to her ex's table.

"If you ever get lost in Kyurem's Mountain, he's the guy you want looking for ya." said Guzma "And he found you."

Guzma didn't have to look at he watch to know that his time was up, but he didn't care anymore.

"Yeah, listen, I'm sorry I never told you. I thought you would've heard." said Olivia truthfully.

"How would I have heard?"

"Well, people talk." said Olivia uncertainly.

"Not about the things they know you don't want to hear." said Guzma. "So when's the big event?"

"Tomorrow..."

"Really?" asked Guzma coldly. "HEY!"

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Olivia.

"I'm getting the waitress. Did you get her name?"

"Well, I dunno what her name is. Why are you doing this?"

"Because you've been found and you deserve to celebrate. C'mon."

Guzma starting waving his arms wildly through the windowpane in hopes of getting the waitress' attention.

"Wait is that?" asked Olivia.

"What is what?" asked Guzma back, cluelessly.

"On your left arm."

Guzma glanced down at his arm and goosebumps ran across his body. She wasn't supposed to see that. He quickly rolled up his sleeve and assured Olivia it was nothing.

"Hey!" Guzma shouted again, hoping to get the waitress to come around sooner rather than later.

"What is that?" insisted Olivia.

"It's a tattoo" responded Guzma, still preoccupied with the waitress.

"When did you get it?"

"After you left."

"What does it say?"

"Nothing."

Olivia wasn't having it and grabbed Guzma's forearm. She scrunched her eyebrows and sighed "Villian?"

"Villain." corrected Guzma "It's supposed to say villain."

"Why is it supposed to say villain?" inquired Olivia.

Guzma tried to think of a lie in order to get Olivia to leave the subject alone, but at this point he had nothing to lose. She was marrying Blue tomorrow anyhow.

"Why would you want a tattoo that says villain?" repeated Olivia, in a more urgent and panicked tone.

"'Cause" said Guzma.

"Because why?"

"Just because." said Guzma, ripping his arm away from Olivia's grasp.

"Just because why?" insisted Olivia.

"Because when a guy has a girl and he drives her away."

Olivia tried to interject by saying "Guzma, you didn't drive me away" but the white haired carpenter simply shook his head.

"It's criminal. It's villainy. And villainy has to be punished, so I punished myself. I marked myself a villain so girls would know to stay away so I would never have to go through what I went through with you. Again."

"I have to go." said Olivia. Hesitantly, she pecked Guzma's cheek. A true goodbye, something she should've offered long ago. With one last longing glance, she said "Talk to Lana. She can get that undone."

"I'm glad you got found" said Guzma.

"Thank you, Guzma. For everything."

With that, Olivia went back to her bachelorette party, amid cheers from her obviously extremely drunk friends.

Guzma sighed and pulled out his phone. He started to select all the pictures of him and Olivia together and threw them away, save for one, where the late great Ariados was hanging on Guzma's wall in the background.

"Hey, sorry!" said the waitress, barging into Guzma's private lounge, making him jump. "I saw you waving me down and I tried to get here but it's just to rowdy up front. Good thing our special isn't drink free if you're glad. Because those girls are wicked glad. It was like fighting through a heard of Mamoswine to get here, but I did it. I found you."

Guzma couldn't peel his eyes away from the picture of him, Olivia and Ariados. Tears started to streak down his face. He had lost so much this year. Just needed a win.

The waitress seemed to notice that the seat Olivia was sitting was now empty and sighed.

"Remember the Sawsbuck Patty special. Drinks are free if you're sad. Just tell me you're said and you'll drink free. I'll even drive you home. Just say the word."

Every impulse in Guzma's body screamed for him to say yes, he was sad, but for some reason he couldn't get the words out. Something was stopping him. Perhaps a drive to finally go sober.

Slowly but surely, Guzma shook his head.

"Alright, well my name is Villian if you need anything."

"Villian?" asked Guzma in shock.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I'm not sad, I'll just take another Blue Moon."

"Alright."

"Villian?" asked Guzma.

"Hmhm"

"I'm glad you found me." he said.

"Aw, he's glad I found him, that's adorable."

"When are you off?" asked Guzma.

"If Siebold doesn't pay attention? After I get your Blue."

"Sounds good."


End file.
